Kilburnie Angus stud, Walcha, NSW, began performance recording in 1985 and, later, was one of the earliest herds enrolled in Angus Breedplan, according to stud principal David Murray.

Mr Murray has a passion for genetics, which led him to upgrade his commercial Angus herd to a seedstock business.

Initially, most cows were recorded as APR (Angus Performance Register) animals, but with a nucleus of Herd Book Register cows.

From a peak 500-cow herd in 2008, David and Sue Murray have scaled their operation back to an elite 150 breeders, turning off 60 bulls annually. These are sold at the annual on-property sale in spring.

Mr Murray is not apologetic - he is breeding bulls for clients who want their cattle to produce quality meat profitably.

Bull calves are on the ground in July and August and weaned at seven to eight months old with an expected weight of 270-280 kilograms. From weaning, the young bulls are expected to gain 1kg per day weight grazing improved pastures and supplemented with grain.

By sale day, yearling bulls are expected to weigh at least 500kg and two-year-old bulls should be 600-700kg.

"Our focus on weights is driven by our clients' feedback. They want to wean steers at 300 to 320kg," Mr Murray said.

"They want 21-month-old steers to weigh out at 600kg live for a 320 kg carcase.

"These growth rates mean people in our district, using our bulls - where we have really cold winters - can finish their steers before the second winter.

"Our clients need to know their heifers and cows can get in-calf with natural joining. We're breeding animals for calving ease. We want them to be fertile, so fertility is also recorded.

"We cull females that are likely to have calves with big birth weights, slow growth rates and poor fertility. If heifers get in calf on our tough country, they won't struggle to get pregnant on our clients' properties.

"We also want cows to grow as rapidly as possible to 600-day weights, from 550-600kg in our case. We want them to perform on grass alone after they get to that age and weight."

Cows are udder and teat scored after the first lactation. Roger Evans, of Bovine Scanning Services, is the independent assessor used by Kilburnie stud for all structural scoring.

Another EBV focused on is smooth coat due to the number of Kilburnie clients whose weaners enter the feedlot system.